For some reason my father chose to become a member at Dukes Place, and that was our shul
As related to Riki Goldstein by HeChover J. Steinhart
The East End of London had a lot of shuls in my day, though not quite as many as we have today in Golders Green. My parents davened in the Dukes Place shul. Dukes Place was one of the jewels in the crown of the Jewish East End. The shul was established in around 1690 and was fully active and Orthodox until it was unfortunately destroyed by German bombers in May 1941. Its real title was the Great Synagogue, but everybody called it Dukes Place.
As the Great Synagogue, Dukes Place was the base of the Chief Rabbi. The one I remember was Rabbi Joseph Hertz, Chief Rabbi of the British Empire from 1913 to 1946. He davened with us on Yamim Noraim. When it came to Unesaneh Tokef, and other such passages, he led that part of the service.
My father was a Poilishe Yid. His father and his brothers davened at the Djikover shtibel, which was one of the main shtiblach in the East End. But for some reason he chose to become a member at Dukes Place, and that was our shul.
Create a free account to keep reading.
